Queensland Labor pledges to scrap extended
sentences for bikies if elected

Sarah Vogler and Neil Doorley

The Courier-Mail

January 06, 201512:00AM

LAWS that send bikies to prison for an extra
15 to 25 years are likely to be scrapped if Labor wins government at
the upcoming state election.

However the Opposition insisted yesterday it was not
going soft on outlaw motorcycle gangs and would retain anti-bikie laws
in some form.

Labor MP Jo-Ann Miller revealed the party would
probably return to the laws Labor first introduced in 2009 in a bid to
rid the state of bikies, laws the then-Opposition LNP rejected.

But she said the party did not believe the VLAD laws,
which can add up to 25 years to a bikie’s sentence, were working and
they would likely be changed.

A criminal conviction is yet to be secured under VLAD,
with the cases placed on hold to allow for the unsuccessful High Court
challenge to go ahead.

News. Bikies going out for a drive in Everton
Park they are on Timms Road. Pic Annette Dew

“In 2009 Labor passed very important laws about
criminal organised gangs,” Ms Miller said. “It should be pointed out to
all Queenslanders that the LNP at that time refused to support those
laws because they were more concerned about the civil liberties of
bikies than the rest of Queensland.

“What we are thinking of doing is going back to the
2009 legislation and in fact strengthening it because Labor has zero
tolerance of criminal organised crime and we have zero tolerance of
these criminal gangs.”

The Newman Government yesterday seized on comments by
a bikie gang member that he would support Labor over the LNP as a result
of the laws and Labor’s pledge to review, repeal and replace them,
insisting the Opposition would return the state to the “bad old days” of
public brawls and shootings.

Acting Treasurer Scott Emerson, responding to comments
in Monday’s Courier-Mail by United Motorcycle Council Queensland
spokesman and Rebels leader Mick Kosenko that the bikies would back
Labor, called on Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk to commit to
retaining the existing regime if the ALP won government.

Treasurer Scott Emerson. Picture: Peter
Cronin

“These laws have widespread community support because
they have played an important part in cleaning up the streets,” he said.

“We are the first state in Australia to effectively
deal with the criminal gang problems and that wouldn’t have happened
without the current tough legislation.

“This work would be undone if Labor carried through
with their threat to replace these laws.”

Mr Kosenko said earlier bikie gangs simply wanted “a
government that will sit down with us and talk about the issues they
have with motorcycle clubs”.

“We just want to be treated like a sporting club. We
are a sporting club. We’ll go along with anyone – Labor, Katter, whoever
will listen rather than treat us like criminals.”

Former Rebels sergeant-at-arms Mike Smith, whose two
sons were placed in solitary confinement after being among the infamous
“Yandina 5” arrested on the Sunshine Coast in 2013, said the bikie laws
were a “crime against humanity”.

“Myself and my two sons can’t even have a beer
together,” he said. “We can’t even drive in the same car together.”

Police weighed into the debate yesterday, urging both
sides to keep the current laws.

They were critical of Labor’s 2009 laws because a
court order was needed to declare a gang an outlaw club; under current
laws, gangs are deemed to be criminal gangs under legislation which
allows police to act almost immediately to close down clubhouses and ban
members from wearing their colours or associating with each other.